Heavy Metal Chaos
by RobotKat
Summary: An Astro Boy-Tetsujin 28 crossover! Astro and Uran's vacation in Tokyo is interupted by the rebirth of an enormous robot. After the two befriend a boy detective, they discover that everyone around Tetsujin may be in the line of numerous dangers...
1. Meeting Shotaro

Hi, everybody! This story might be a little convoluted if you don't know either the continuum of Astro Boy or the continuum of Tetsujin 28, but hopefully this story works out okay. I'd like to point out that I had to change some aspects of the Tetsujin storyline to get it to work in the modern age, given how it originally takes place in 1955…but either way, please enjoy this!

* * *

"Astro, this is amazing! I love this place!"

Uran and Astro Boy walked through the glittering streets of Tokyo, Uran carrying a plastic bag filled with figures and keychains. After assuring that his little sister was happy, Astro glanced down at himself, checking that his white and red suit was still clean. The two had returned from a robot museum opening gala, and Uran had ended the gala by retreating to a cluster of toy stores.

"They seem to be very nostalgic here," Astro said, noting the lack of aerocar tunnels in the air. "Everybody drives on the ground in this district."

"Where do we go now, Astro? Doctor said he'd pick us up…"

"That's right…" Astro stopped walking, and Uran did as well. Astro put a hand to his chin, thinking…Ochanomizu had told them he was called to a small, independent lab, and would trace the children's locations when it was time to go back to Metro City. "Well, I don't know. He said he'll meet up with us."

"Let's look in the bookstore for now!" Uran rushed into an adjacent bookstore, Astro following with an amused shrug. Inside the shop, the walls were lined with posters, and the two tried to focus on finding something to look at. Uran scanned through a rack of girl's manga while Astro headed towards the mechanical manuals.

"Astro, do you know if we have any more—"

The overhead lights in the store suddenly begun to flicker, catching the attention of everyone in the store. Suddenly one of the overhead lights hissed and exploded, sending everyone inside the shop into a panic. A schoolgirl in the cookbook section sent her arms protectively over her head and shrieked.

A large businessman in a suit ran to the front window, cupped his hands to the glass and shouted, "It's happening all over the street!"

Uran ran to the window as well; the shops and neon signs along the road were jittering frantically on and off as well.

The businessman waved his arm towards the door. "Everybody get out of the store!"

Astro grabbed Uran's wrist and pulled her into the street, the crowd flooding out behind them. He picked Uran up and flew out of the shopping district.

"What do you think is going on?" Uran asked softly, clutching her shopping bag of toys.

Astro didn't respond, more focused on trying to sense what was distorting the area's energy flow. Something near the outskirts of the city was consuming vast amounts of electricity. The two were soon cruising over a field of long grass.

"There's a lot of power being drained into this area," Astro replied after a moment. They came across a small factory labelled 'Shikishima Heavy Industries' on the front wall. Astro landed on the roof set Uran down on her feet.

"Let's look around." Astro crept towards a sunroof, whispering. "I think there's something suspicious going on in this factory!"

Uran, hugging the shopping bag, noticed a trapdoor in the roof and headed to it. She knelt down and put her ear to the door. A myriad of faint voices echoed up from far below her.

"…I think he's…"

"…Hold on…let me shut down the…"

"…I hear some…doctor, I…"

The voices stopped. She tried to concentrate harder and hear if they were whispering, but there came nothing.

"Uran," Astro waved at her from the window. "Look at this."

Beside her, the trapdoor swung open, and she shrieked on reflex. A boy with thick black bangs and a school uniform suit was staring at both of them in confusion.

"Doctor!" The boy called out behind him. "There's two children on the roof!"

Uran looked down the trapdoor, discovering a staircase leading to an enormous testing room, at least forty feet down, while two older men – she recognized one of them as Ochanomizu – came to look up at the ceiling. Nervously, she crept back. Astro joined her at her side.

"Uran?" Ochanomizu exclaimed. "Astro, as well? Come in, you two! You should see this!"

A tall, bespectacled man in a brown suit looked up from a control panel. "Shotaro, please invite them down."

The boy – obviously named Shotaro now – took Uran's hand and lead her through the trapdoor. Astro climbed in effortlessly, and gestured to himself. "Hi, my name is Astro. This is my sister Uran."

"I'm Shotaro Kaneda," the boy replied. "How do you like Tokyo?"

"It's great!" Uran held up the shopping bag. "They don't have this stuff in Metro City!"

Shotaro led them down the stairs, focused in thought. "Metro City…wait, you're Astro Boy, right?"

"Of course."

Shotaro put his ear to Astro's chest, waiting for the sound of mechanics. Astro's engine whirred out of nervousness, and Shotaro jolted back.

"You really are a robot!" He turned to Uran. "Are you also…"

"I am!" Uran squeaked.

Shotaro looked almost horrified. "But…you two are so humanlike…"

"Never mind him," The suited man called out. "Shotaro hasn't met a lot of advanced robots."

"Children, this is Dr. Shikishima," Ochanomizu added quickly. "He called me in to tell me about the discovery of this robot, Tetsujin 28."

The children went to the banister, looking down to find an enormous black robot strapped into a mould on a lower level. The robot's dark appearance was only livened up by two stripes around its torso and a long, pointed nose.

"This is what was taking in so much power, right?" Astro asked.

"Tetsujin's a relic from the last arms race, so his battery is a little outrageous," said Shikishima. "Shotaro's father built him just over nine years ago."

Uran looked displeased. "They should've made him ten feet shorter, at least…"

"Well, we're going to test out his powers as soon as the energy registers in his system, and then we'll work towards replacing his inside mechanics. Saturday night, there's going to be a public meeting where we show him off."

"I…I think I remember a Tetsujin being mentioned at the robot gala," Astro replied with his hand on his head. "It was pretty brief, though."

The control panel let out an approving musical ping.

"Okay, he's been recharged." Shikishima glanced at Ochanomizu. "Should I…"

"If he works, I'd suggest you replace his battery with something more efficient, and transfer the existing energy into the new one."

"All right." Shikishima looked over his shoulder, calling out, "Ginrei, please take the children to a secure room."

"Just a moment," called out a young woman's voice.

"Doctor, I want to watch this!" Shotaro stepped forward. "This is my father's work, and—"

"I'd rather you were safe and off to the side," was the doctor's hurried reply. "I don't know whether Tetsujin will be hostile or not."

A tall woman with long, wavy green hair in a ponytail and a white, delicate-looking china dress walked into the room, leading the three out of the testing room and towards the hallway.

"It's good to meet you two! My name's Ginrei…" She brushed a lock of thick hair out of her face. "I'm a special agent from the government, but I do assist with the lab here. Shotaro, what are their names?"

"Give me a moment, Ms. Ginrei," Shotaro retorted, yet softly. Astro could tell he was extremely disappointed.

Uran looked at the row of grand windows lining the room. Very faintly, a tall man in a bright pink trench coat and fedora was standing in the field outside, watching them go by. Uran's optical sensors quickly zoomed into his face, discovering his hair to be in some sort of absurd pompadour.

"Weird…" Uran looked up at Ginrei. "There's a man in all-pink standing outside."

The four looked back, finding the field empty.

"Uran, are you sure?" Astro asked, concerned.

Uran ran to the window. "Yes! I'm sure he's just hiding now!"

"I'll call security as soon as we get to the saferoom." Ginrei nodded at her, then led the group back to the hall. Uran stared after the window in annoyance.

Shotaro turned to her, asking, "Did you say _pink_? What about his hair?"

"It was poofy and black." Uran held her hand before her forehead, indicating the size. "It's pretty much impossible to do."

"Strange," Shotaro muttered, his face concerned. "I know Chief Otsuka is looking for a man like that…"

Ginrei looked nervous.


	2. Murasame and Kusai

Kenji Murasame ran down the alleyway, heading towards a dingy-looking shack hidden under a clot of trees. He was briefly concerned that Ryu had given him the wrong address, seeing as the entire block composed of gutted wooden shacks, and he hadn't previously heard about this place from any of his informants.

He stopped at the back door of the tree-lined shack and knocked.

"And who is that?" An unfamiliar voice shouted behind the door. Kenji could hear Ryu's deep, rich laughing far back in the room, and somehow, he became irritated by it.

"This is a Kenji at the door, looking for the one called 'Ryusaku'!"

Muttering. "…That's probably…"

"…Someone open the…"

The door slid open a second later, a short, fat foreign man in a suit standing at the knob. Ryu and some strange man with a twisted face and all-black outfit were sitting in the middle of an otherwise smoke-choked room, the table they were at featuring an abandoned card game. Kenji could hear more people further in the building.

"Get in here before the cops do," The man in black snapped at him. Reluctantly, Kenji moved inside, and the fat man shut the door again.

Ryu held out a box of cigarettes. "Have one! Skunk brought them in from France."

"Uh, not right now…" Kenji became worried by the sounds of hooting laughter deeper in the house. With the lack of proper oxygen in the room, Kenji thought he would probably pass out in the better part of three minutes.

"So…" Skunk Kusai leaned back in his chair. "What did you see?"

"They've drained the city's power supply and brought it into the Tetsujin." He tried to keep his footing steady. "The doctor with the nose was there like you said, but also…that kid you mentioned…the one with the pointy hair?"

Skunk sat up, enthralled. "Yes! Astro Boy! What was he doing there?"

"I couldn't tell, but there was a nearly identical-looking girl with him, too."

"That's his sister!" Skunk turned to Ryu. "I'd like you two to deal with them, and in turn…"

"Perfect! We can do that." Ryu held out his hand, big and calloused, preparing to shake. Skunk deliberately ignored it.

"Could you two tell me what you decided on?" Kenji slid open one of the windows and stood near it. "I'm not going into the government buildings again…"

"Well, uh…" Ryu looked over his shoulder. "Skunk says if we destroy the kid robots, he and his guys destroy Tetsujin. If we need them again, it'll be six thousand in American dollars."

Kenji's face morphed in disgust. "And how do you think we're going to do this?"

"Given how much your brother's been bragging about you being an ex-spy and he being a pilot…" Skunk rested his chin in his hand. "…I'd say you two would be just as able as I am. Your brother's a big guy, you know. On his own, he could even take _me_ in a fight."

Kenji was about to protest, but gave up, his mouth still open.

"Mr. Murasame, you haven't told me much about yourself." Skunk looked back at Ryu. "What's your deal with the robot?"

"Well, what's _your_ deal with the boy robot?" Ryu looked serious for a moment, then smiled, casually holding up his hands in defence. "I'm kidding! You don't need t—"

"You didn't answer me," retorted the other man, his face serious.

"Oh. Um…"

Kenji moved over to the table, adjusting his tie. "Let me explain…just over a decade ago, everybody in the science community was trying to build giant weapons robots."

"Mm-hmm?"

"Our parents lived near one factory that was building a robot called 'Bacchus'. One day when I was at school, and when Ryu was practicing or something…there was a technical error in Bacchus's heating core, and he blew up. It…it took out the entire block, including our parents."

"That's awful," Skunk replied, secretly feigning empathy.

"Everybody stopped working on the giant robots for a decade, seeing as they were so unpredictable…" Ryu looked down at his hands, all the energy from his body seeming to disappear then and there. "…But now they're bringing them back?"

Kenji, however, was livid. "They _know_ twenty-four died because of one! It's disgusting how ignorant they are!"

"I'd be glad to help you two out," Skunk said in approval. "Tetsujin seems less-advanced as Astro, thus, pretty easy to bring down."

"That's great!"

Skunk stood up. "So, I'll be at work during the Tetsujin Ceremony. When do you plan to…"

"Anytime. You want both of the robot kids?"

"Just Astro. I never thought of the girl as a threat."

"Excellent…" Ryu glanced back at Kenji. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," came his brother's dazed reply.

"I'll see you in two nights," Skunk said, finally shaking Ryu's hand. The older man looked pleased.

A while later, Ryu and Kenji were walking through the alleyway again, heading back to Ryu's houseboat. Kenji looked extremely concerned, but Ryu was absentmindedly tossing the French cigarette package up and down in his hands.

"Pretty nice of him to give me the whole thing…you sure you don't want one?"

"Ryusaku, the girl saw me in the window." Kenji looked down. "The little girl robot."

"What?" Ryu turned to look at him but dropped the box. "You knucklehead, they'll know we're coming! Kusai's gonna be so—"

"This is all ridiculous!" Kenji shouted. "They're not resurrecting Bacchus, Brother! Nothing's going to bring mom and dad back!"

Ryu pinched his shoulder. "Not so loud!"

Kenji howled, "Nobody lives here!", bringing up a number of short echoes. Ryu looked at him limply.

"What if Tetsujin ends up like Bacchus? What if some kids come back from school tomorrow and find that their house has been vaporized?"

"Science has changed, Ryusaku…" Kenji pulled a blueprint of Tetsujin out of his coat. "I should know."

"This is…" Ryu gawked at the paper. "…This is a copy of the new system they're putting into Tetsujin, right?"

"Of course. As you can see, he doesn't have any lasers like Bacchus did, and he's pretty much just a big mannequin."

"Wait here!" Ryu held up one hand, and then ran back towards Skunk's tree-lined shack. "I need to give these to Kusai!"

"Ryusaku!" Kenji glared after him hopelessly.

•••••

Inside the saferoom, Uran was sitting on the floor, playing with her new figurines. Ginrei was sitting at the couch with Astro, watching Tetsujin move around on the television connected to the testing lab. Shotaro was hastily looking through a binder.

"Um, Miss Uran…could you come here a moment?"

"Okay." Uran hopped to her feet and rushed to stand beside him.

"Is this the man you saw?" Shotaro held up a police photo taken out of security footage, showing a man in all-pink climbing into an office's file room.

"Yeah! That is!" Uran rushed over to him and took the photo. "How does he do his hair…?"

Ginrei looked up from the television, her vision falling on the picture. Her face became a mix of worry and shock. "K…Kenji?"

"Oh right, you worked with him once!" Shotaro turned back to Uran. "His name's Kenji Murasame, and he was a special agent until three years ago. He never turned in most of his keys, and since then, he's been capable of getting into any government building in Japan."

"How creepy," Uran mumbled. Ginrei curled up, hugging her knees, still looking anxious.

"As well…" Shotaro held up another picture, showing an older man who looked slightly like Kenji, but with slicked-back hair and a wider chin. He was in a pilot's uniform. "This is Ryusaku, his older brother. He was in the air force, but dropped out of a suicide mission eight years ago. We thought he faked his death soon after that, but since then he's worked with the Yazuka. Let me or Ms. Ginrei know if you see either of them again."

"I will!"

"Uran, look!" Astro pointed at the television. "Tetsujin's walking!"

On screen, Tetsujin was tromping around inside his tight enclosure. Shikishima said something, pointing at Tetsujin, and Tetsujin raised his arms. Ochanomizu looked thrilled.

"I wish this room had an audio connection," Shotaro lamented. "I want to learn more about Tetsujin."

Astro looked at him earnestly. "How come?"

"My father built it for me…" Shotaro gazed at Tetsujin. "…He thought I died with my mom when I was a baby, in the Bacchus accident."


	3. Everything For Bigfire

"Oh, this is exasperating! Let me through!"

"I'm sorry, _no_! You haven't even told me who—"

"Get your men away from me!"

Down the hall in the testing lab, Dr. Shikishima's speech to the flock of guest scientists officially halted in favour of listening to the panic nearby. Coming into view was a group of officers fluttering around a sprig, monocle-clad British man, the group headed by the chubby and diminutive Chief Otsuka.

"Chief?" He called over his shoulder. "Chief, who's that?"

Chief Otsuka's officers were unsuccessfully holding back a now-infuriated Dr. Bigfire. "Um…well, I'm not really sure who—"

"I," Bigfire proclaimed, breaking free, "Am Dr. Bigfire of England! I had gotten word about the resurrection of Tetsujin!"

"Why yes," Ochanomizu moved forward. "We were all about to start reconstructing his interior mechani—"

"As a former producer of a heavy weapons robot, I must ask…what exactly do you plan to do to this robot?"

"We want to improve the efficiency of his battery, and possibly enable his artificial intelligence."

"Wrong!" Bigfire howled, pointing upwards. "With a robot of this stature, the last thing you need is the risk of it going berserk! Think of your families!"

A young Chinese man with thick black hair laced back into a ponytail stepped forward. "How disgraceful…I'm a scientist from Hong Kong, and I doubt Tetsujin would have trouble complying with the robot laws!"

"He's entirely outdated!" Bigfire was on a roll. "The problem, perhaps solution, is in his brain! Leaving him to be entirely controlled by human is the best option! Take for example, my creation Fire III…"

Shotaro, Astro and Uran rushed into the testing lab, discovering the situation unfolding.

"Hold it, Bigfire!" Otsuka strolled forward. "Put the remote away! You're not summoning any robot here!"

"Then how can you see how he is? I bet none of you have experienced a completely subservient robot in years!"

"But that's very unfair," Astro said. "Robots like this shouldn't just be giant toys."

"Oh, children! Why can't even _you_agree with me?"

"Excuse me, but…" Ochanomizu looked grim. "Two of those children are robots! Imagine how horrible it would be for someone to control their every move!"

Bigfire stared at the kids. "Which one, the girl, the boy in the suit, or the boy in the black shorts?"

Otsuka sighed noisily. "Men, get him out of here…"

The officers linked their arms through Bigfire's and lead him to the front hall. The elderly scientist responded to this by kicking his legs like a child, with even more cries of "This is _intensely_ frustrating!"

"Chief…" Shotaro stared after Bigfire. "Who was that?"

"Ah, some nut from Britain who likes brainless robots…" Otsuka adjusted his cap, suddenly noticing Astro and Uran. "Well, hello! This is Astro Boy and his sister, right? Shikishima told me about you two."

"It's nice to meet you, Chief!" Astro bowed automatically, Uran doing the same soon enough. A few of the scientists clapped in approval.

"Kids, come with me." Otsuka began to lead them towards the main hall of the factory. "Let's let these people get working again."

Shotaro seemed visibly insulted to be pulled away from the adult team yet again. They passed the enormous windows once more, all three of the children looking out, almost expecting to see Kenji Murasame reappear in the field again.

Otsuka took his cap off and used it to fan himself. "Shotaro, why don't you and the kids go into town, and look for something to wear to the ceremony?"

"Right!" Uran turned to him. "Don't you want to go, Shotaro?"

"I already have a suit, Chief."

"Yes, and you have three identical ones." Otsuka sighed. "I'll call over a guard robot and have him take you kids to a mall."

Uran hopped up and down. "Could Ms. Ginrei go with us? She's really nice."

"I'm sorry, Uran. This morning, she went out to try and hunt down the Murasame brothers…something about them stealing the Tetsujin blueprints."

"Oh…"

•••••

"How lovely," Dr. Vogler mumbled to himself, tapping his fingers on the newspaper page he was reading. "Kaneda, you've really outdone yourself…convincing your boy to bring that monster back to life, all from beyond the grave…"

He stood up from the table and left the kitchen, coming into a corridor lined by one banister. Over the rail, an enormous black robot with bulbous yellow eyes stood at attention.

"Ox, my boy, isn't it time we went out together?" He called out to the robot. There was no reply, but Vogler seemed to make one up in his head.

"Don't worry!" He strolled towards the line of stairs that led down the scissor lift. "I'd be happy to let you deal with Tetsujin yourself."

He flung on a lab coat, soon strapping goggles on over his eyes. He stepped onto the lift with a toolbox and blowtorch, the lift sliding along to an open cabinet on Black Ox's chest.

"Hold on, my boy…you'll be in working order soon enough."


	4. Tetsujin's Revival

Astro and Shotaro stood behind the thick red curtains, looking out at the crowd filling the enormous banquet hall. Tetsujin had been propped up before the curtain, attached to a variety of start-up machinery. Astro looked back into the crowd and saw Uran and Ginrei walk by, the woman in a white and blue silk dress and her hair flowing down her shoulders. Uran had attempted to duplicate the outfit.

Astro closed the crack in the curtains. "I should go and guard Tetsujin."

"Are you sure?" Shotaro pointed down the hall. "Chief Otsuka's personally on guard, and your doctor even called over some police."

That had meant that Inspector Tawashi was now involved in the situation, and Astro was reluctant to go near him. Tawashi was corrosive under stress.

"Well, I wouldn't mind walking around…" Astro and Shotaro went down the hall, heading for the secure entrance into the banquet hall. Uran met them there, running and twirling in circles.

"C'mon, Shotaro!" She grabbed Shotaro's hand and yanked him towards the entrance. "They're playing music now, so we can dance!"

"Um, okay!" Shotaro looked over his shoulder worriedly at Astro. "I don't know how to dance."

"She'll probably show you."

He watched them move into the crowd, and then stepped out himself. Astro had never been truly interested in dancing, and knew he'd have a better time guarding the hall.

"Well, Astro!" Ginrei was standing at the wall, smiling down at him. "You look dapper tonight."

"Thank you, Ms. Ginrei. Have you seen anyone suspicious in here?"

"There's an unusual amount of men in here…" She pointed into the crowd. "Some of them I expect to be scientists, but a few of them just strike me as being…strange. With so many people bringing fancy masks, it's hard to tell."

Astro watched a large man in a suit awkwardly shuffle back and forth from the front door to the admission table. A couple with masquerade masks passed in front of him briefly.

"That one man there looks a little shifty," Astro said, pointing at him. "I'm going to talk to him."

"Don't do anything rash," Ginrei called out as the boy flew across the banquet hall.

Astro landed before the man soon enough, holding out his hand. "I'm sorry, sir…but could you tell me what you're doing here?"

"I'm…I'm waiting for someone." The man nervously gestured to a random woman in the crowd.

"Oh, okay." Astro nodded. "She looks ready. Why don't you go ask her to come over here?"

The man grimaced, took a few steps forward, and stopped in defeat.

"Could you come with me for a moment?" Astro asked.

The man glanced at him, and then bolted towards the banquet hall exit. Astro took to the air and rushed after him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him towards the backstage entry. Tawashi and Otsuka were watching in awe.

"Astro, what are you doing?" Tawashi snapped. "You're going to startle the crowd like this!"

"This man might've snuck in," he replied earnestly. "I'm sure if he's innocent, you'd easily be able to get some questions out of him."

"We'll see what we can do," Otsuka said, putting his hand on the man's shoulder. "C'mon, get moving with me."

Astro turned back to the crowd worriedly. If there was one man like that, there obviously had to be several more.

Ginrei was standing before the suspended Tetsujin, looking up at the robot's face, deep in thought. Astro stepped to her side.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Ginrei?"

"Well…" Ginrei sighed and looked down to face him. "I was thinking about a friend…you three know him just as the man in the field."

Astro nodded. "Yes, that Murasame."

"He and I worked together several times…" Ginrei looked away. "He was my friend, but suddenly he quit…he wouldn't want me to tell you this, but a robot like Tetsujin exploded near his parent's house, and they died."

"Oh."

"But, I could hardly see him trying to sabotage Tetsujin like this! He held grudges, but he wouldn't…" Ginrei sighed weakly, and then turned to Astro with a hopeful smile on her face. "I probably shouldn't bring you down like this."

"It's okay, Ms. Ginrei. I've never been bothered b—" Astro suddenly noticed what appeared to be a child walking behind Tetsujin's enclosure.

"Hey!" Astro ran forward. "Hey, you! Don't go any further!"

He looked through the mechanics, finding the child had fallen over. He ran in and pulled the child out, holding them up. He had a mask on.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" A tall man in a blue suit and glittery mask ran to Astro, his arms outstretched. "My son is so hyper tonight…"

Astro handed the child back to the masked man. "You need to keep him away from this machinery. He could've unplugged something important."

"I'm sorry…" The man said again, leading the child away. Astro gazed after them, watching the man lead his child towards the bathroom.

•••••

"You idiot, you _idiot_!" Skunk hissed at his drastically shorter companion, whom was standing at the sink. "You couldn't have pretended to be an _inconspicuous kid_ for just a little _longer_, huh?"

"It's not my fault your plan involved getting past AstroBoy!"

"You d— ugh! You wanna know how many times I've done that and _succeeded_? I tell you! Not to mention how we both thought he'd be more focused on talkin' with that broad…"

"For the record…" The shorter guy tapped his fingers on the counter. "I got the tablet installed in the robot's charger."

"That's good, at least…" Skunk flushed the urinal and returned to the counter. "All that's left is waiting for the old guy to come out and start up the robot…"

"Speaking of robots, you really expect those two guys to actually kill Astro?"

Skunk stopped drying his hands, turned to face him, and swatted him across the face. "Everybody lives up to their end of the deal when they work with me. If they don't, I go after them when they sleep."

"I…" The short guy tried to regain his composure. "…I know how it works, boss."

"Good. Now get back out there and pretend to be a six year old."

•••••

At the wide, metal-plated basin at the head of the room, Shikishima and Shotaro stepped in front of Tetsujin, the older doctor holding a microphone to his mouth. "Attention, everyone! I would like to begin the reanimation of Tetsujin 28, a functioning artefact of the torrid decades gone by!"

The crowd quieted down and turned to watch. Shotaro held up a metal control box about the size of a child's lunchbox and proclaimed, "This is the key to awakening Tetsujin! When I move either of these joysticks or speak into it, he follows my every word!"

"He doesn't even sound like a kid," Uran lamented to Astro.

"Well, without further ado…let's call him forward, Shotaro!"

"Yes!" Shotaro gripped the control box, looking up at Tetsujin. "Tetsujin! Walk forward three steps!"

Tetsujin made a low, throaty growl, and moved his left foot forward. The crowd began chattering.

At the far back of the room, Skunk slipped his hand into his suit pocket, finding a trigger pen. He pushed down on its button and turned to the exit, three men following.

Tetsujin froze up, his body in a jagged position. Suddenly, a bright blue flash came from the twisting mass of pipes and wires, followed by the screaming thunder of an electrical explosion. As the crowd panicked, Astro could barely see Tetsujin trip over and tip downwards towards Shotaro.

"No!" Taking to the air immediately, Astro glided forward, holding out his arms. He struggled for a moment, but slowly managed to push Tetsujin back into a secure, standing position, and then dove into the tangle of wires.

He saw it immediately. Something had burst apart one of the major power cables, bright blue sparks spraying around. Carefully, he grabbed both ends of the cable and slowly reattached the two, his whole body throbbing with energy until both ends met. The sparking ceased.

"Shotaro!" He called out, his arms still pulsing from the energy rush. "Shotaro, start the show while you can!"

"O-Okay!" Shotaro held up the control box again. "Tetsujin, wave!"

Tetsujin did so. He nodded afterwards, making a heavy groan again. Astro nodded at the enormous robot's movement.

"Just keep working, Tetsujin…" He whispered. "Everybody's gonna be okay."

•••••

When Skunk and his men returned to their warehouse, they discovered the door had been blasted open not long before.

"What the h…?" Skunk looked at the men. "Did Claude do this?"

"No, I thought Tawashi and the fatty arrested him," exclaimed a tall, skinny man.

Skunk flung open the door. They found Ryu and Kenji sitting at the table in the centre of the room, either one smoking and glaring at Skunk.

"How'd you find my place?"

"I have my ways," Kenji drawled, taking a hard drag. "We know how the sabotage went."

"Oh, that! Well, speaking of that…" Skunk strolled into the room. "The first was free, but requiring us _again_ will bring a charge of twenty thou—"

Kenji sprung to his feet, slipping a throwing knife out of his sleeve. "Don't pull that one on us! You hardly did anything!"

"Kenji, calm down!" Ryu pulled his brother back. "You know who we're dealing with!"

"Well, did either of you get Astro? Evidentially not, because he's the one who ruined the entire operation!"

"Calm down, Kusai!" Ryu held up his hands. "Look…Kenji let me into a bank, all right? I got ten thousand American dollars on me right now. See…"

Ryu hauled several pads of money out of his suit jacket, letting it pile on the table. Skunk's face slowly stretched into a grin.

"Right, right! I get what you mean. Mutual deal from here on, boys."

Ryu nodded stiffly. "You destroy that robot, and we get the boy."

"It'd been easier for me if you did your half first. Now get out of my house."


	5. Black Ox Appears

"Can Tetsujin say anything?"

"He wasn't ever equipped with a vocal system."

Shotaro and Uran sat in Tetsujin's hand as the human boy moved the giant robot down the countryside. Astro was sitting up on Tetsujin's head.

"I'm glad to see you're doing okay," he said softly to the giant head. "We were worried your battery would be permanently damaged."

Tetsujin grunted again, and Astro noticed the robot's eyes shifted upwards to see him. Tetsujin never stopped walking during this revelation.

"Shotaro, he understands me!"

"It may be only because you're both robots," called out the other boy. "But as far as I know, he's only semi-aware of his surroundings!"

"But he really looked at me!"

In the meantime, Uran was dangling her feet off of Tetsujin's palm. Something rumbled far up the countryside, and she looked up.

"I hear something," she called out to Astro. "It kinda sounds like another giant robot!"

"It couldn't be…" Shotaro looked up as well. "Astro, go and look around for me!"

Astro flew into the air and scanned the hillside for any anomaly. Everything seemed normal at first, but a fresh trail of round, indented footprints caught his attention. He flew back to the other two.

"There's an entirely new set of footprints over there! Remember how Dr. Bigfire was talking about his own robot?"

"I doubt if he'd be able to get it here from England in less than two days…" Shotaro looked to the side. "Maybe if we…we…"

Coming up the path was another giant robot with black armour, pointed ears and big yellow eyes. An old man was perched on its shoulder, clutching what looked like a large remote.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Shotaro breathed. "T-Tetsujin, stop!"

Tetsujin halted, grinding loudly. The other robot did as well, giving either one a distance of about fifty metres between them. The man put his remote to his mouth, amplifying his voice through the robot's face.

"Kaneda boy," came the grainy transmission. "Do you know who I am? Did you know your father worked with me?"

"No!" Shotaro shouted, trying to match the volume. "I haven't seen either of you before!"

"Well, fascinating!" The man looked less than thrilled. "You should have, given how your father stole most of my mechanical designs!"

"Wh…"

"That's right! He never told anyone that he had worked with a Dr. Franken Von Vogler, especially not that he'd cloned my Black Ox's designs, because he would've looked like a sham to the rest of the world!"

"My father wasn't a sham!" Shotaro howled, on the verge of a tantrum for the first time in years.

"How do you explain how similar their movements are?" Franken typed something into the remote, and Black Ox ran forward, his arms held out to Tetsujin. Astro swept between the robots and grabbed hold of his sister and Shotaro, buzzing between the enormous metal idols like a mosquito. Ox begun trying to push Tetsujin down, but the latter pushed forward, interlocking their fingers. Either one was trying to push each other over.

Astro, at this point, was holding Uran in one arm and Shotaro in the other, trying to move them to the ground.

"Shotaro, you didn't know your father stole that design?"

"He didn't steal anything," wailed the human.

"Well, they might look different, but inside they must've had identical systems!" Uran looked up at Dr. Franken, whom was irritated and waiting for his opponent to make a new move.

"I'm waiting, Kaneda boy!"

Tetsujin's footing began to slip backwards. He grunted again, his eyes sliding down to focus on the children. Shotaro shuddered.

"He really is semi-conscious…" Shotaro tried to hold up the control box up again. "How could I have doubted this?"

Tetsujin suddenly stumbled backwards, beginning to tip backwards and soon land on his back. Astro dove in at the last minute one more time, straining to try and push the twenty-foot robot back on his feet.

"Shotaro, you've got to control him again!" Astro squeaked. "You can't keep freezing up like this!"

Shotaro nodded stiffly, and cranked one joystick forward. "Te…Tetsujin, get up! Punch him!"

The giant robot rose to his feet and struck Black Ox across the face. Vogler nearly slipped off Ox's shoulder, but gripped onto Ox's neck and crawled into a cabinet in his forehead.

"All right then," He said, amplified. "Let this fight begin!"

The robots collided briefly, a ring echoing throughout the countryside. Shotaro fumbled with the joystick, trying over and over to match Ox's speed. Vogler, staring down through Ox's head cabinet, sneered down at him.

"Stop it, mister!" Uran shrieked. "They're screaming! Both of them are screaming!"

"Pardon?" Astro called out, hovering behind Tetsujin.

"I can sense it!" Uran put her hands to her head. "Both of them are in pain!"

Vogler hesitated briefly. "Ox, my boy? Are you all right?"

A dry groan came from Ox. Tetsujin responded with another low growl.

"What did they say?" Shotaro grunted, not turning away from the fight.

"I…I don't know! Astro, call Dr. Ochanomizu!"

"Okay!" Astro froze, a program deep in his mind paging an alert out to Ochanomizu. When he looked back to the fight, Ox had gripped Tetsujin's left wrist.

"No!" Shotaro howled, ripping on the joystick. "This isn't supposed to happen! I don't want Tetsujin to be a fighter!"

He ripped the joystick to the side twice, and Tetsujin's left arm swung in response. Ox's entire arm was torn off.

Vogler howled in horror, fumbling to press a smaller button on his remote. What looked like glitter dotted the air around Black Ox.

"Shotaro, I feel funny…" Uran wobbled, then fell to her knees. "…Sleepy, almost…"

"Tetsujin's slowing down!" Shotaro called out, ignoring her. "Astro, what's going on?"

"Something came out of…" Astro's jets begun to short out. Ox had just sprayed some sort of chemical powder, and all of the robots but him were weakening.

"This, my dear children, is my own special compound!" Franken called out. "You should be feeling the effects of it right now!"

_That's it,_ Astro thought. _There's some sort of spray that weakens mechanic functions, and only Black Ox is immune. I don't know home much longer I can keep working._

Not far up the road, Otsuka led his officers towards the robot fight in the distance. Ochanomizu and Shikishima were seated in the back.

"Doctor, I can't believe someone would come after Tetsujin again…" Ochanomizu squinted to look ahead. "Can you see the children?"

Shikishima didn't respond, his limbs rigid. Ochanomizu became worried and turned back to him.

"Is something wrong, doctor?"

"It's…it's Black Ox," he murmured.

Otsuka pulled up behind the robots and shouted into his radio, "Everyone move out! A Dr. Franken von Vogler is suspected to be inside the black robot!"

Something hit the hood of the car with a hollow thud. Otsuka glanced up to focus on it, his face morphing in awe.

"Astro Boy!"

"Ungh…" Astro struggled to look up. "There's…there's a weakening chemical in the air…"

"Astro?" Ochanomizu ran out of the car, soon helping the robot off the roof. "Astro, where's Uran?"

"With Shotaro…" He pointed weakly to the side of the road, where the boy was still frustrated and controlling Tetsujin. Uran was slumped sleepily beside him.

"Get in the car, Astro! I'll get her!" Ochanomizu rushed to the two, dodging one of the robots' feet.

"This is enough, Vogler!" Otsuka bellowed through a megaphone. "Cease controlling the robot, or we will not hesitate to shoot it down!"

"I won't back down that easily!" The older man shouted. "Kaneda stole every one of my designs! I want the entire world to know this!"

"He…he didn't!" Shotaro replied. "He wouldn't have!"

"You still idolize your father, don't you? You still think he's such a mastermind roboticist?"

Shotaro yanked the joystick forward. "Tetsujin, crush him!"

Tetsujin swung his fist forward, hitting Ox in the chest. As the robot stumbled back, Tetsujin hit him again, this time cracking Ox's outer armour. Ox fell backwards, a rumble sounding through the air upon contact with the ground, Vogler hollering from inside the head cabinet.

"It's down!" Otsuka rushed forward, urging on his officers. "Get him out before the robot gets up!"

Tetsujin groaned. Shotaro turned to Ochanomizu, whom was holding Uran in his arms.

"Doctor, I think I'm feeling better…" Uran mumbled.

"Okay, that's good, Uran. Just take your time."

Shotaro watched Otsuka, a female officer and two male officers drag Vogler out of Ox's head, the old man writhing and shouting. The female officer managed to handcuff him, and Shotaro forced himself to look away. Shikishima and Astro joined him and Ochanomizu.

"I don't even know who he was," the boy mumbled. "I can't believe he'd say that about my father."

"Shotaro, actually…" Shikishima looked to the side. "I worked with both your father and Vogler, and he…well…"

Shotaro's shoulders dropped, his face affixed with a look of disappointment. "You mean…"

Astro watched the now-docile Vogler be led to a police car.


	6. Fire III vs Theatre

"And now Bigfire! I don't even…" Otsuka slapped the letter on the counter, infuriated. "These people are like parasites!"

"What's going on?" Astro looked down at the letter. "Wait, Bigfire activated his robot?"

"He wants to show us how it works…" Otsuka sighed, fiddling with his mustache. "I think he's just conceited."

Shotaro simply sat in the corner of the coffee room, staring quietly at a picture frame. In it was a shot of Shikishima, Shotaro's parents, and the infant Shotaro in his father's arms. Astro stepped next to him and hesitated for a moment.

"Do you want to go outside with us? Uran and I are going to a movie."

Silence.

"My friends might be coming here. You'd like them."

Shotaro just sighed.

"One of them really likes robots!" Astro paused, wondering if he should test Shotaro. "Ms. Ginrei will be coming."

"I'll think about it," Shotaro said briskly.

Otsuka put his hand on Astro's shoulder. "Astro, c'mon. Let's give him a moment…"

The two soon headed into the lobby of Shikishima Heavy Industries. Uran was twirling absentmindedly through the lobby with a silk scarf.

"Those kids come by yet?" Otsuka asked her.

"Not yet!" Uran ended with a bow. "Ginrei's getting ready right now, though."

"All right…" He looked down at Astro. "I don't think Shotaro should go out today. Shikishima and I are going to stay with him and calm him down about the Vogler incident. Maybe even get him to actually sleep…" He prepared to walk back down the hall.

Astro nodded. "Okay, Chief. We'll bring him back something."

Suddenly, the front doors swung open, bringing in three young boys, an otaku, a large jock and a timid looking adventurer. Tamao, Shibugaki and Kenichi rushed into the lobby, soon surrounding Uran and Astro.

"Aw man, it's great to see you!" Shibugaki roared, throwing his arm around Astro.

"We saw you on the news! You know, at the ceremony!" Tamao adjusted his glasses.

Kenichi joined in. "Are we gonna see Tetsujin up close?"

"Not yet. He's still being repaired from this morning's fight."

"A fight?" Tamao exclaimed. "How'd he do?"

"Pretty good, but his controller Shotaro isn't doing well…" Astro put a hand to the back of his neck. "You'd like Shotaro, if he were here."

"Oh, are the kids here?" Ginrei strolled out of an office room, adjusting one of her earrings. "You guys ready to go?"

The three boys merely gaped at her. After a moment, Shibugaki murmured in Astro's ear, "Who's the model?"

"Shotaro's not coming with us, Ms. Ginrei," Uran piped up, waving her scarf.

"Okay, then!" She turned to the doors, making a bit of a show. "Everybody head to the truck!"

"Who _is_ this lady?" Kenichi asked Astro as they headed outside.

"Er, a government agent. She looks after Shotaro sometimes."

•••••

"Well, if no one's going to make up their minds, do we need to split up?" Ginrei looked down at the children, frustrated. "You've been fighting for five minutes now."

"I'm just saying, we'd all have a better time at _Geo-Bashers_!" Shibugaki pointed at a poster with three giant lion robots attacking each other.

"That's way too violent! I want to go to this one!" Uran pointed at something with animated fairies. Ginrei sighed.

"Look…I'll take Uran, and you boys go to your robot thing."

"Yay!" Uran shook Ginrei's hand wildly. "Thank you, Ms. Ginrei!"

"All right! Let's go…" She and Uran headed towards the box office. Shibugaki and Tamao watched Ginrei leave with dismay.

"Aw, great…I woulda put up with dancing fairies just to sit near her…" Shibugaki groaned.

"Oh, well." Tamao pulled some money from his pocket. "We'll be fine. Let's go get our tickets."

Kenichi looked at the rest of his group. "I don't feel like seeing a movie at all, really. Why don't we hit the town for a while?"

Astro seemed appalled. "But, Ms. Ginrei—"

"Ms. Ginrei thinks we're watching robots crush each other." Shibigaki pulled Tamao to the theatre exit. "We've got time to kill!"

•••••

Kenji stood in the attic of an abandoned clothing store, watching the four boys spill out of the theatre. As they laughed amongst themselves, he reached to his side and picked up a large metallic rifle. It was a Compact Cluster Cannon, a weapon designed specifically against robots, which could blast a robot into pieces with one shot. Even owning one was a chargeable offence. Skunk had managed to get one somehow, and Ryu and Kenji didn't want to ask.

"Easy…" Kenji aimed the gun at Astro, whom was trying to point out something to his human friends. "Stay _still_, kid…"

Something inside him made his entire body freeze up, nausea biting at his abdomen. When Kenji returned from his stupor, the kids were already running down the street.

"No…" He moved out of the window and dropped the gun at his side. Kenji had never wanted to kill a child, even if it was just an android. Why did Ryu and Skunk force _him_ to do it, instead of one of the nameless lackeys Skunk always had with him? Kenji stood up, hoping to flee the grungy attic, and lie that the gun wasn't working. Although Skunk would probably retort by firing it at him…

"I really don't want to leave!" Astro shouted down the street. "Ms. Ginrei might _really_ be angry!"

Kenji sat up, a chill running up his spine. _Ginrei? I thought she quit after I did…_

He hurried out of the attic, intentionally forgetting the gun. Kenji wanted desperately to get into the theatre and see her again, but he would probably be identified and arrested soon after.

As Kenji ran down the stairs, a wild shaking rippled through the building. Hoping to avoid falling down the stairs, he gripped the railing and held on, listening to systematic, footstep-like thuds emit from the street.

•••••

"Behold, Tokyo!" Bigfire bellowed from Fire III's shoulder. "This is what a robot should be!"

"Everyone, look…" Astro held his arms out in front of his friends. "This man came to the factory two days ago."

"Oh, hello there!" Bigfire waved down at Astro. "It's you! Do you want to try controlling Fire III?"

"Doctor, you're going to get arrested!"

"I have everything under control!" Bigfire typed something into his pocket watch. "See this makes him roar!"

Fire III suddenly raised his arms and howled, a metallic screech echoing down the street. A crowd of pedestrians moved away from the robot, two of them holding phones.

"Hey, Captain Ancient!" Shibugaki called out. "Those folks are callin' the police, I bet!"

"You lot!" Bigfire shouted over his shoulder. "Yes, stop doing that!"

A short girl took a picture.

"This is insane…" Tamao looked up the street. "Where are the police already?"

Bigfire became frustrated, tapping harder on his watch. "Fine then! Let me show you his flight capability!"

He scuttled off Fire III and stood back on the sidewalk. Fire III rose several feet in the air, a jetpack on its back flaring, and then flew forward. The robot soared a good fifty metres before crashing into the side of the theatre. Burst drywall and foundation fluttered out of the hole.

"Oh, blast!" Bigfire wailed amongst wild crowd protests. "If that theatre hadn't been there, I could've made him do a trick!"

"_Uran_!" Astro screamed, breaking into a run. "Uran! Ms. Ginrei!" The boys followed him immediately.

Police flooded into the street, grabbing Bigfire and his remote. "Let me go! This was an accident!"

Astro was suddenly cut off by a few police officers. He went rigid, while Kenichi, Tamao and Shibugaki struggled to get around them.

"Please! My sister's in there!" Astro shrieked. "She's a robot!"

"We'll get her out fine," A woman in SWAT Team armour assured him. "Right now, we need to check how many people were in the theatre!"

"There appears to be no grave injuries," one officer called out.

"Get them away from the big robot!" The woman shouted back.

"Uran!" Astro called out, cupping his hands to his mouth. "Uran, can you hear me?"

•••••

Moments before, Uran and Ginrei had been seated in the theatre, while a group of fairies gliding through trees and sang on screen.

"There's always going to be," one chirped, "Another day for—"

Fire III's shoulder slid through the side of the theatre, bringing down half of the ceiling. Uran immediately stood up, holding up her hands, and blocked a large chunk of the ceiling from hitting the group sitting beside her.

"Run!" She squeaked. "You guys have to get out!"

They did so, one of the mothers picking up a screaming child on the way out. Upon seeing the theatre was empty, Uran threw the debris to the side and turned to Ginrei.

"Ms. Ginrei, are you—" She froze. Ginrei's legs were trapped under a smaller chunk of debris. Uran shrieked and pushed it off.

"Thank you…" Ginrei struggled to sit up. "We…we need to get out…"

"Don't move! You'll make it worse!" Uran gaped at her legs, trying to come up with a way to carry the much larger woman out.

"I think I'm going to pass out," Ginrei mumbled.

"No! No!"

"Ginrei, no…" A low male voice moaned behind them. "Let me get you out of here…"

Uran turned. A man in the pink trench coat rushed up to Ginrei, gathering her in his arms. Uran was simply horrified.

"It's you!" She shouted. "Shotaro told me to look out for you!"

"There's no time for that," Kenji said hastily. "We need to get to my house. I've got medical equipment there."

"Just leave her here and the ambulance will get her!"

Kenji broke into a run, and Uran followed him. "They're not here yet! She's going to lose too much blood at this rate!"

They were soon in the parking lot behind the theatre. Kenji's little car was parked behind a dumpster, and he carefully set Ginrei down in the back. Uran climbed in with her, sitting on the floor of the car so she was beside Ginrei's head.

"You're not going to hurt us, are you?" Uran asked in a little voice.

Kenji pulled out his keys. "Of course I won't. Let's go."


	7. Uran Steps Out

"I haven't seen either one in the theatre or surrounding area, Chief."

"Where could a little robot and a government agent go?" Otsuka hooted, looking around. "Has anybody seen Ginrei?"

A group of officers and emergency workers answered quietly with dismay. Otsuka massaged his face in frustration.

"Can you sense Uran nearby, Astro?" Ochanomizu asked Astro.

"She's not even in the city. I don't know what could've happened!"

"Maybe Bigfire can answer some questions…" Ochanomizu glanced over at the British man seated in the back of a police car.

"I swear, I didn't even know there was a girl in the theatre!" He held up his handcuffed hands. "Fire III wasn't supposed to hit the theatre!"

"This guy's a _loon_," Shibugaki mumbled to Tamao.

"I am far from being a waterfowl, child!" Bigfire shrieked. "Why won't anyone listen to my science?"

"We have a child and a 22 year-old woman missing!" Otsuka bellowed in response. "There's more at stake than your brainless Fire III!"

•••••

Uran sat on the couch, studying the rest of the house's living room. Kenji said that he and his brother lived there, and you could tell. Part of the living room was messy and littered with laundry and various items, but another part was completely clean. She assumed Kenji had the clean part.

Her sensory system could detect heavy levels of lingering cigarette smoke and firewood. She stood up, walking slowly towards the guest bedroom. Her feet clicked softly against the wood-lined floor. She stopped by the doorway, looking in to see Kenji carefully bandaging Ginrei's legs. The woman was unconscious but breathing.

"She's okay, right?"

"Mmm-hmm." Kenji nodded stiffly, sealing another strip of bandages. "Come in here."

Uran hurried in and sat at the side of the bed. "What is it?"

"Did Shotaro tell you about the Bacchus Incident?"

"He almost did…"

"They were trying to build a lot of large robots around the world, ten years ago…" Kenji sat back. "One of those robots in Japan was Tetsujin, and another one was Bacchus. Ginrei's dad was working on a robot, but…that's unrelated."

"Go on."

"Well, they tried to turn on Bacchus one day, and his heating core was so flawed that he blew up. The explosion took out the whole block, including my parents' house."

"Oh, _no_…" Uran looked down. "That's why you don't like Tetsujin, isn't it?"

Kenji sat up, biting his lip. "I just don't like how they want to bring back that brand of giant robots after so many people died…"

There was silence. Uran looked down at her feet, kicking them a little.

"Plus, there was the time my brother and I ran into Shotaro," Kenji said quickly, embarrassed. "Did he tell you about that yet?"

"No, but I wanna hear now!" Uran sat up.

"Well, uh, I let my brother into a bank, and we got busted by a nine year old. That's only embarrassing if you're my age, Uran…" He stood up, gathering the medical supplies. "Let's get her some water."

Uran followed him quietly out to the kitchen. After a moment she asked, "Do you _like_ Ginrei?"

Kenji stopped, his face blank. He hesitantly said, "Yes, I do."

Uran ran to the sink, delighted. "Shotaro said you two worked together once!"

"We were trained together, and we worked together up until four years ago." He nervously set the supplies on the counter and begun to pour a glass of water. Uran sensed how uncomfortable Kenji was, and became silent.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Murasame."

"About what?"

The back door suddenly opened, and Ryu hurried into the house, a thick bag under his arm. "Kenji, you're here! How'd it go?"

Kenji didn't respond, looking back and forth tensely from Ryu to Uran, whom was staring at Ryu in shock. The older man, in the meantime, was becoming increasingly exasperated.

"C'mon, you shot the kid, right? Kusai's gonna get angry if we don't hurry u—"

"Skunk?" Uran shrieked. "Mr. Murasame, you're working with Skunk?"

Ryu, finally noticing Uran, exclaimed, "You have the girl?"

"Everybody calm down!" Kenji held up his hands. "Look, somebody flew a robot into a theatre, and I saw the girl with Ginrei."

"Oh boy, _Ginrei_!" With a smirk, Ryu put his hand on Kenji's shoulder, shaking him a bit. "How's she doing?"

"She's unconscious and has her leg in a splint," Kenji said angrily, pointing at the guest room. "Now, look. I don't want to be involved in your stupid Tetsujin plan…"

"It's about showing them what we think of their robots! You said so yourself!"

"No, it's what _you_ think about their robots!" He retreated to the table, gripping the glass of water. "I hate them, but I wouldn't risk my life against them!"

"What? I found Kusai all because you were so eaten-up about this!"

Uran held out her hand. "Should I take that to her?"

"I'll do it in a minute."

Ryu leaned against the counter. "So the_robot_ is helping you now, or is it the other way around?"

"Ryusaku, that's enough…the girl's been immeasurable help here."

"That's not what I was—"

"No!" Kenji stood up suddenly. "How would you feel if someone was trying to kill one of us?"

"What's going on?" Uran asked slowly.

"Skunk Kusai wants us to kill your brother," Kenji groaned. Uran looked at him with vast horror.

"Which he didn't do," Ryu complained. "C'mon, Skunk's going to kill _us_ if—"

"I'd rather _that_ than live the rest of my life knowing I killed some _children_!"

"They're just robots!"

"They're _kids_!" Kenji hissed. "It's a matter of morals!"

"You're a bonehead!"

"And you're a freak! I _hate_ you!"

Ryu suddenly looked wounded. "Kenji, don't say that."

"I'm a grown man, Ryu. I don't need to take orders my brother anymore…" He picked up the glass of water and rushed into the guest room. Uran looked at Ryu worriedly; Ryu stood in place, mouth agape, still stunned and trying to process what he'd just heard. Uran stepped forward and tugged on the sleeve of his suit.

"Don't worry…my brother and I fight like that, but we always turn out okay."

Ryu turned away, fishing something out of the bag he'd discarded on the counter.

Uran hurried to his side. "You're okay, aren't you?"

Suddenly he turned, jabbing something into Uran's neck. Electricity surged through her body, stabbing through her internal circuitry, and her vision flickered on and off. Her CPU shut down, and she fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"I can't rely on anyone now," Ryu mumbled, putting the taser on the counter. He picked up the frozen robot girl and headed to the back door.

•••••

"Where am I?" Ginrei muttered, half-awake. Kenji was slumped down at her side.

"My house. You almost broke your leg when a robot flew through the theatre."

"Kenji?" Ginrei turned towards his voice, keeping her eyes closed. "You saved me?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"…Again?"

He sighed. "You would've died of a loss of blood if I hadn't gotten to you."

"It's been years," she said softly. "I thought I'd never get to talk to you again."

Kenji didn't respond, simply putting his head down on the mattress again.

"Have you quit smoking yet?"

Unprepared, he laughed weakly. "Ginrei, I've missed you…"

He gathered one of her hands in his and brought it up to his face, delicately kissing her knuckles. Silence filled the room again.

"Is Uran here?"

"Yeah. She's been really helpful…" He got up, heading to the door. "Uran, you can come in now."

Silence again.

"Uran?" Kenji entered the kitchen, finding the rest of the house empty. His eyes immediately fell upon a taser on the counter. He picked it up, staring at its label in horror.

"Robot Neutralizer…" He slapped it back on the counter. "_Ryusaku_! Are you in here?"

"What's going on?" Ginrei called out.

"Don't get up! Don't—" Kenji bolted to the back door. The spot where Ryu's motorcycle was usually parked was empty. He turned back and closed the door.

"Ginrei, I…I think my brother took Uran!"

"What?" She shouted from the guest room. "Call Otsuka! We need to get her!"

He returned to the room. "I'll be arrested! You don't know how many government buildings I've been into!"

"I _know_, actually. I tried to hunt you down after you stole those Tetsujin blueprints."

He kissed her on the forehead. "_That's_ my Ginrei."

She smiled weakly. "Please, call Otsuka."

•••••

Phones all over the Tokyo police station were ringing off the hook. Otsuka paced behind the table occupied by his underlings, whom were frantically answering phones.

"No, ma'am, I haven't seen any…"

"…I'm sure Bigfire will gladly pay for your car…"

"If you're going to talk like that, I'll give you…"

"Oh, hold on…" An officer suddenly held out their phone to Otsuka. "This one's a call from the Metro City Penitentiary, chief."

Otsuka put it to his head immediately. "Hello?"

"Mr. Otsuka, I'm sorry, but you're the only one I've been able to get hold of," replied a rich, deep man's voice.

"And who would this be?"

"This is Dr. Umataro Tenma," he replied. "I've heard about the entire Tetsujin hysteria, and I want to be flown in to see Astro."

"I wouldn't recommend it," a prison guard abruptly said into the phone. Tenma hissed and took back the phone.

"I'll see what I can do," Otsuka replied, realizing he was having another headache. "Ochanomizu told me that you have another fourteen months of your sentence left."

"Ochanomizu will tell you a lot of things."


	8. Knocking on Heaven's Door

The handcuffed Dr. Tenma was led into Shikishima Heavy Industries early the next morning. Two guards at his side, he was dressed in a loose button-up shirt and dress pants, far from the rich garb he'd become famous for wearing before.

Shikishima rushed out of a nearby office, his arms outstretched. "Tenma, _hello_! I've heard all about your contributions to the scientific community, prior to your—"

"There's no time for that," Tenma said quickly. "I need to talk to Astro right away."

"Er, right this way." The bespectacled man led the officers towards the hall.

"The only reason we let him come here is that we had to transfer an inmate," one officer said. "He's got about six minutes of visiting time here."

"At least he's not as rowdy as the other inmate," the second officer kicked in.

When they entered the coffee room, Astro and Shotaro were huddled at a table, with an alarmed Ochanomizu holding two teacups. Kenji Murasame was handcuffed to a cabinet, leaning on the counter. Ginrei's legs were heavily bandaged and she was slumped into a soft chair, with Otsuka and his men poring over a map.

Tenma gaped at the situation. "Is this a party?"

"I wish," Kenji muttered.

Ochanomizu shakily set the teacups on the table, prompting Astro to get up. "Doctor, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you, Astro." Tenma took a few steps forward, slowed down slightly by the officers. "I'm very familiar with the Tetsujin Project, and there's something important you all need to know."

"Tenma, this visit is a little abrupt," Ochanomizu said sharply.

"What is it?" Shotaro looked up, agitated. "This isn't about my father stealing designs, is it?"

"A bit. Now, do you know of Tetsujin's ability to shoot his right fist out at enemies, and have it return to him?"

"Yeah?"

"Now, it's very powerful. The ability was taken from the robot Gilbert, but there's a problem…" Tenma breathed in. "You can only use it once. On a second time, it'll cause Tetsujin to explode upon reattaching. That's exactly what happened to Gilbert."

"Nobody died, right?" Kenji said from the counter.

"Of course," Ochanomizu added. "It was tested in the desert."

"Where are you going with this, doctor?" Shotaro tapped his fingers on the table. "Astro's sister went missing, all thanks to Murasame over there."

"You're such a rude child!" Tenma exclaimed. "Do you think you're acting mature?"

Kenji nodded. "Thank you, doctor. Somebody had to tell him."

Shotaro shot both men a glare.

"I'm sorry, doctor." Astro said. "Go on."

"As I was saying, you can use the fist ability once and never again. Mind you, it may be your best asset in a crisis."

Shikishima turned to Tenma. "What if we modified the fist right after use?"

"Yes, but you'll have to replace most of the circuitry in that one arm. Kaneda unfortunately skimped on proper installation there."

"That's what I've seen from the blueprints," Ginrei added. "Tetsujin's too outdated for fighting."

Shotaro now. "So, he could easily break down next time?"

Tenma nodded. "Yes, and I needed to tell the lot of you. Shikishima and I used to work with Kaneda years ago, and I knew quite well that he was copying from other creators. I'd go as far to say that his only talent was his memory."

Shotaro bolted from his chair, pushed past Tenma and fled up the hallway. The group stared confusedly at the door for a moment.

"Maybe you were a little harsh," Ochanomizu said.

"The _truth_ is harsh."

"Two minutes," an officer whispered.

"So!" Tenma looked at Astro. "Uran's missing, right?"

"Yes."

"Who's the one that took her?"

"My brother," Kenji interjected. "He's an ex-pilot, and made a deal with Skunk Kusai…"

"That's not good."

"Tell me about it."

Tenma looked up to the ceiling, focused in thought. After a sigh, he said, "I don't know how long it'll take me to work on it, but—"

The phone rang. The group stared at it with mass uneasiness, but slowly, Astro got to his feet and picked up the phone, pressing the 'intercom' button.

"Hello?"

"Oh, it's you, Astro!" A raspy voice answered on the other end, echoing through the room. "How's things?"

Astro held out the phone away from his face. "Skunk!"

"No screaming on the phone! Geez…" Skunk cleared his throat. "Is the youngest Murasame there?"

"You mean Kenji? He—"

"Tell him he's a cowardly sack of crap."

"No!" Astro gripped the phone. "Where's Uran?"

"I have no idea, kid. That Ryu moron just called me and told me our deal's off, but you know…nothing's off 'til I say so."

"Where's Uran?" Astro repeated, sharper in tone.

"He said something about a plane out by Tokyo Tower. But I've added something special…some of my guys are out, and you folks have to make a beeline _directly_ to Tokyo Tower or they'll shoot you. Even I don't know where they are. And then, you deal with whatever Ryu's doing as fast as you can, 'cause they'll shoot him down as well. Sound like fun?"

"Of course not!" Astro howled. Otsuka got to his feet and crept up beside Astro.

"Hmm, it certainly does to me! Anything else you wanna say?"

Otsuka took the phone, rummaging for something at his belt. He said smoothly, "Why yes."

And then Otsuka held a little air horn up to the phone and blasted it once, sending a shrill wail throughout the room, the only assurance being that it was three times as loud on the other end. He hung up before Skunk could kick in a reply.

Shikishima rushed through the room. "Everybody get to the truck. Tenma, I want you and your guards to stay here with me for the time being, since I assume you'll be shot if you go a different way than us."

One of the guards looked horrified. "But we have a deadline to—"

"Would you rather die, or be half an hour late?" Otsuka roared at him. He hastily took off Kenji's handcuffs from the cabinet. Shikishima rushed into the hall, while Astro and Ochanomizu helped Ginrei get to her feet.

"Shotaro?" Shikishima called down the hall. "Shotaro, you need to go!"

Shotaro was crouched under a table. "I don't care."

Shikishima dedicated the next moment to trying to crawl under the table. "Shotaro, please…we've just been tipped off. Ryusaku Murasame has Uran by Tokyo Tower."

At the sound of Uran's name, Shotaro looked over his shoulder. "So I'm supposed to use Tetsujin?"

"Yes…but this is the _last time_ until I can fix him." He held out his hand. "Now, let's go."

Shotaro looked at him hopelessly but still crawled out of under the table. "All right."

Within minutes, Ochanomizu, Otsuka and his officers had loaded into a police car, with Tetsujin flying overhead. In the giant robot's hand were Shotaro, Kenji and Ginrei, with Astro in flight alongside them.

"This is really scaring me, Ginrei…" Kenji murmured. "Ryu never acts like this."

"You really shouldn't have talked to Skunk, Mr. Murasame!" Astro called out.

"I know…" He sat back. There had been an awkward feeling in the air for a while, after he had to tell everyone about the Compact Cluster Cannon. The worst part was seeing Ginrei look at him so disappointedly…

Astro thought he saw a man with sunglasses, lying in a ditch at the side of the road, holding up a stun gun. He shuddered and turned away.

•••••

"Nothin' to worry about. Nothin' to worry about. Nothin' to worry about. Nothin' to worry about…"

By the thirtieth time Ryu had mumbled this to himself, he finally had the sinking feeling that there indeed was plenty to worry about. He paused and took a good, long look at the situation…he was sitting in a stolen personal jet parked on an inlet, with a little robot girl tied to the propellers; Tokyo Tower was little more than a kilometre away.

"Uh-huh…" Ryu mumbled while mindlessly lighting a cigarette. "Yazuka duties…conspiring with an international criminal…kidnapping…possession of weaponry…aircraft theft…they'll put me away for years."

Ryu was going by Skunk's "emergency plan", wherein he'd threaten a murder-suicide. He had no idea what else to do.

Suddenly, Tetsujin grazed over the horizon, police sirens coming over the hill. He sat back and waited for the crowd. Tetsujin landed on the inlet, looming behind the jet. Shotaro and Astro spotted Uran right away, and were immensely horrified.

"Uran!" Astro shouted down. "Uran, can you hear me?"

"Where are the cops?" Ryu shouted back. "Skunk said there'd be cops!"

Ginrei stood up unsteadily. "Otsuka's parked by the tower! Ryu, please don't do this!"

Ryu froze for a moment. "Ginrei…you know, Kenji's lucky having a lady like you…"

"Get out of the plane!" Kenji added in. "What are you going to do?"

Ryu pointed out ahead, his hand formed like a gun. "I'm going…out there."

He was pointing directly at Tokyo Tower.

"No, no!" Astro shouted. "You're going to fly into the tower? But you'll disrupt all sorts of radio broadcasts!"

"And you're going to die!" Kenji shouted.

"Yes, that's the point!"

Astro suddenly shot forward, his arms outstretched, preparing to grab Ryu and pull him from the plane. Far to the side he heard a distant buzzing, and soon enough, a blue beam connected with the boy's shoulder, electrocuting him. He screamed and fell to the ground.

"Astro! Astro are you okay?" Shotaro called out. "Someone shot him!"

"Take care of Ginrei," Ryu shouted back, his face serious. He threw his cigarette far to the side and started up the plane.

Kenji almost wailed, "Ryu, no! _No_!"

The jet purred forward, the whole craft soon taking flight. Down at the Tower, he could see Otsuka and his officers running around and shouting. He also thought he could see people leaning out of nearby buildings, some holding guns.

Partly hysterical, Ryu begun singing the first pop song that came to mind. "_When I'm given more, when my heart trembles_…"

The tower came up closer.

"_It's like an indirect kiss…but when I'm searching, when I'm regretting_—"

Right when the tower was only metres away, he heard laser gunshots echo all around him. The flash of their beams seemed to come from everywhere, hitting the wings, the plane body and even some on his arms. The plane began to drop like a bird that had been stunned mid-flight, rotating to the side in mid-fall. Ryu glanced up shortly, seeing the armed men in the windows duck back inside.

"Kusai!" He howled. "Kusai, I hate you!"

The plane hit the ground with a loud shatter right before the foot of the tower, spraying chips of glass and metal along the sidewalk. Otsuka's officers rushed forward to untie Uran from the propellers and trying to carefully drag Ryu from the cockpit. Tetsujin landed nearby and knelt down, everyone fleeing his hand. Ginrei carried the drowsy Astro in her arms.

Kenji rushed into the mob towards Ryu. "Ryusaku! Ryusaku! Are you—"

Paramedics had reached him already, and were tending to him on location. His face and arms were dotted with scratches and even little burns, with blood dribbling from his mouth where he must have bit his tongue.

"Kenji?" Ryu mumbled, trying to open his eyes fully. "Kenji, I'm sorry…"

"He's going to live, right?" Kenji bellowed at a nearby paramedic with childlike despair.

"Don't touch him!"

"Kenji, you're going to get back at Kusai, right?" Ryu asked drowsily. "Get him for the kids…"

Kenji broke down crying.

In the meantime, Ginrei had forced Shotaro to follow her to where Otsuka was standing. Uran had been set on the ground while Ochanomizu stood fiddling with electronics in her head.

"Doctor…" Astro tried to get to his feet. "Is she okay?"

"She's been stunned, but she should recover perfectly." He pressed something. "She got an electric shock that put her into a normal shutdown mode."

Something beeped in her CPU, and slowly, Uran's eyes opened. She sat up sleepily, asking, "Astro? Where am I?"

"Uran!" Astro pulled her into a hug. "You're alive!"

"Miss Ginrei! Doctor!" Uran looked up at the adults, both smiling, but slowly begun to freeze in horror. She turned to the remains of the plane, where Kenji was weeping on the ground, and an unconscious Ryu was being lifted into an ambulance.

"So this is what happened…" She said quietly.

Otsuka's walkie-talkie chirped, and he held it to his mouth. "I'm at Tokyo Tower, ground level. What's up?"

"Chief! Chief!" A female officer shouted frantically on the other end. "The jail! It's been broken open!"

"What?" He hooted. "How many people got out?"

"Just one!" She replied, noises duelling in the background. "Franken Von Vogler! And a black robot got pulled from the impound lot!"

Ginrei locked up visibly, standing there like a horrified statue. Astro just attributed it to the shock of everything that had happened.

"Dammit!" Otsuka shut off the walkie-talkie and looked skyward. "Someone broke Vogler out of jail!"

Astro looked up at the surrounding buildings. "Skunk, probably. He's not done yet…"


	9. Alliances Made

Vogler knew he had been in the back of a truck for almost an hour now. Despite the blindfold, he could sense that the men around him had guns and that they'd moved long out of Tokyo. No stranger to tight situations like this, he'd settled in for the ride and let himself fade into semi-consciousness, sleepy enough to not be bothered by the occasional rattle of a gun or a cough behind him.

Suddenly Vogler felt himself being pulled along out of the truck, and he struggled to make his feet move along properly with the men around him.

Somebody's voice was beside him. "Sit down."

Reluctantly, Vogler moved himself down to sit, finding a wooden chair behind his body. He settled in, and the blindfold was whipped off his head right away, revealing a pale, grinning young man at a desk before him.

"Has he been good?" he drawled, not taking his eyes off of Vogler.

Someone behind Vogler nodded. "Yeah, surprisingly so. Didn't even freak out in the truck."

"You're a tough old guy!" The young man held out a hand, gloved, which Vogler carefully went to shake. "Skunk Kusai. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Vogler replied, as if it were a business meeting. "I admit, having heard your name so much, it's quite an honour to meet you in person."

Skunk casually adjusted his hat. "Well, thanks! So, you know why I've got you here?"

"I imagine it must be for something important."

"It certainly is, doctor. Important enough to have Black Ox broken out as well…" Skunk sat back proudly. Vogler could tell he'd stroked the man's ego enough to be on his good side for now. "If you do me a favour, I'll gladly release you and Black Ox in secret wherever you want."

"Excellent. Germany isn't too much to ask, is it? I believe my old workshop is still standing."

"Not at all, doctor!" Skunk took the moment to stall Vogler, a test to ensure the old man was stable enough to work with. "So, you got any family?"

"Only a daughter. I left her Hong Kong in the care of my lab assistant and went to work in Japan." He trailed off, looking at the ceiling, trying to pull back information as if he were simply recalling the date of a doctor's appointment. "I believe she's working with the government now."

"You think she'll be an interference?"

Vogler adjusted his collar absentmindedly. "I don't think so. I can only picture her in a desk job." He nodded, thinking, then turned back to Skunk. "So what have you got planned?"

"I need Black Ox to destroy Astro Boy and his sister. I thought I had a deal with these two brothers, but they turned out to be pretty inept. With a robot like yours, you shouldn't have any trouble."

As he finished, Skunk slid two pictures onto the desk that Vogler would almost suspect to be school photos. A smiling little boy – maybe nine years old – with pointed black hair and dark brown eyes, and a little girl around six whom could have passed as his younger clone.

"I know these two," Vogler rasped. "They got in the way when I was challenging Tetsujin 28!"

"I understand," Skunk said, hands folded on the desk, knowing he had the older man hooked. "So, would you like to work with me on this?"

"I would be delighted to, young man."

They shook on it, black leather gloves clashing against pale calloused hands. There was a similar gleam of twisted anticipation in both men's eyes, one that Skunk's men could almost swear sent a chill through the dead silent room.

•••••

Astro gripped the doorknob carefully, turning it as if one sudden movement would make it electrocute him. He hugged the bouquet of white carnations to his chest as the door opened with a soft, tinny creak.

All-white walls, and a blue tile floor, Ryu's bed off to the side, with a window in the centre of the wall. There was some grey equipment and furniture here and here, but Astro paid no attention; he didn't like how empty the room seemed as it just gave him a horrible feeling of loneliness.

"Mister Murasame?" he asked, his voice small.

Ryu turned to look at him slowly, an embarrassed smile on his face. He had a few bruises on his face, and wrapped wounds and burns all over his arms and chest. Astro sensed right away that Ryu was heavily uncomfortable with being in the room with him.

"Are you the only one here?" Ryu sounded like he needed water.

"Well, Miss Ginrei made Kenji sleep on a bench, and she's off getting food for everybody."

Ryu laid his head back. "Good. Kenji's been watching over for hours, and he needs some rest…"

"And…" Astro got quiet. "…My sister said she doesn't want to come in here."

"Is she afraid of me?"

"No, she just…really doesn't like you right now. I'm sorry, Mister Mur—"

"I'm the one who should be apologizing, kid!" Ryu pulled himself up into a seated position, although too quickly, and he held back an aching groan. "I'm so sorry I got you and your sister caught up in this crap. I…I can't even put it into words. I just…"

"I forgive you."

Ryu felt his shoulders droop. "What?"

Astro simply nodded. "As long as you realize what you did was wrong, and you know not to do bad stuff like that again, I forgive you."

"And I said you guys were 'just robots'…" Ryu could hardly process what he was hearing, and barely managed to put a hand on Astro's head. "Kid, you're amazing."

Astro only smiled, holding up the bouquet. "Thank you! Here, I brought these as a get-well-soon gift."

"Carnations? Hey, nice."

Ginrei stepped up to the doorway, a can of tea in either hand, and immediately halted to hear the voices within the room.

"Y'know, back when I was in the air force, they used to hand these out during truces. These sort of flowers represent peace."

"I looked it up to be sure before we went out to visit you!"

"Heh, smart kid!"

Ginrei let herself relax, looking down at the floor, thoroughly soothed by the peaceful conversation going on in Ryu's room. A quick look down the hall proved Kenji was all right too; he was still sleeping in a huddle on a bench, his coat an impromptu blanket and Otsuka's handcuffs ensuring he was still attached to the armrest. It was so awkward to look at but adorable, that Ginrei found herself smiling.

_Things are as good as they can be at a time like this,_ she thought. _I just don't know what Skunk Kusai wants with my father's robot…_

And like that, she felt her stomach churn with nervousness once more.


End file.
